Bobby Brown Wins in VT

words: Mike Rogge (this story also appears on allisports.com)

photos: Matt Stauble

    The East Coast loves the Winter Dew Tour. We also love great skiing and if one thing can be said about today’s skiing slopestyle finals it would be that Bobby Brown threw down some great skiing at the Toyota Championships here at Mount Snow in Vermont. Today also made it very clear that Bobby Brown has officially become the new face of skiing. The 19 year old from Breckenridge followed up his dominating performance at Winter X Games by absolutely slaying the Inferno course on the Carinthia side of Mount Snow and taking home the gold. The teen sensation was the overwhelming crowd favorite, as signs such as “We love Bobby Brown” were scattered at the bottom of the slope course. With stylish rail tricks and spins smoother than Vermont maple syrup, Brown secured the win with a stomped double corked 1260 mute on the final jump.

    “I’m pretty pumped,” said Brown when asked to reflect on his recent domination. “I don’t know how I’m doing this. I guess I’m just lucky,” said the humble gold medalist with a smile. As anyone in attendance can verify, luck had nothing to do with it. Ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Brown has arrived.
    The competitors dealt with high winds and a smaller course than they’re accustomed to. However, that didn’t stop these world class athletes from putting on a double cork clinic on the bottom feature as many competitors made sure to have their own version of skiing’s hottest trick. Everyone in the top 5 has both switch and forward double corks and it’d be hard to imagine anyone cracking top 3 without some version of the spin. Plus, it looks so damn good!
    Coming in second, a Winter Dew Tour rookie and the proud new owner of the Winter Dew Tour Cup, was Andreas Håtveit from Norway. The overall point leader was all smiles after his first cleanly executed run which included a misty 450 off the Toyota box, a switch right 9, and a giant double corked 10. Apparently having a 70 foot jump in your backyard can be a helpful training tool if you’re looking to win the Dew Cup. On his second run, Haitveit came off the Toyota box a little squirrelly and opted to show some love to the crowd in the form of some old school trickery. All double corks aside, every crowd in America still loves a laid out backflip and Andreas won the hearts of Vermonters with a large and in charge backie. As to winning the overall Dew Cup, Andreas said he couldn’t be more stoked. “People consider me to be a pretty consistent skier and to be rewarded for that is awesome! I’m so pumped!” he said as he looked like a kid that was just told he was headed to Disneyland. 

    Taking home the bronze was Sammy Carlson, poking his signature mute grabs and smoothly stomping his landings because, well, that’s just how Pasty C skis. Sammy was easily the most well rounded skier and looked to be enjoying himself more than any other competitor in the deep and talented field. No one makes skiing look more fun than Sammy and it’s great to see his love of the sport reward him with the bronze.

Top 3

    Skiing slopestyle has never been at a higher level with new and exciting tricks being landed at virtually every stop this year. This season alone had three unique winners at each stop (Andreas, Wallisch, and Bobby) and a brand new Dew Tour champion (Andreas). What will next year bring?